It's tough to talk about this stuff. It's been fifty-eight years. It gives me the chills thinkifvng about it.

The Japanese were trying to outflank us and looked like they were going to overrun our position. I remember their screams. They screamed a lot, especially when they were charging. It made you alert in a hurry even after being up for two days and you're ready to fall asleep.

They kept charging, but that's where the grenades came in. We threw grenades all night long. I remember rolling the grenades down. We were up on the hill and they were below us. They kept feeding us boxes of grenades. I remember the sound of Plante's BAR. He kept it going all night long. A lot of guys spent a terrible night out there.

The 1st Parachute Battalion was with us. I remember one of the paratroopers got shot. The corpsman came over because of his cry for help, and he [the corpsman] got shot right through the heart. His name was Smith, so when I saw Smith go down, I grabbed him and carried him down the hill. I didn't think he was going to die. When I got him down to the first aid station, I saw one of our doctors cry. [chokes up] Old Smitty was my friend, a real nice guy, and I broke down also.







type here -matthew slater 2/25/10 11:35 AM
I thought that Ira was a good man and that he had the right idea. It is always a sad thing when a human dies or gets really hurt.
yes he was a good man he went threw a lot can u imagine gernades blowing up all around you and your just waiting for one to land on you. a friend dyeing definately isnt easy.-curtis watson 2/25/10 12:07 PM